Eduardo Ledesma

Eduardo Ledesma, Associate Professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign's Department of Spanish & Portuguese, specializes in Latin American and Iberian literature and film with a focus on experimental forms and technology intersections. His research spans avant-garde movements, digital humanities, and disability studies.

• PhD in Romance Languages & Literatures (Harvard 2012)
• MA in Hispanic Literature (UIC 2006)
• MS in Structural Engineering (UPC 1999)
• BS in Civil Engineering (UIUC 1995)

Ledesma's research explores experimental and documentary cinema across the Luso-Hispanic Atlantic, analyzing how filmmakers challenge aesthetic and political boundaries through analog/digital hybridity. His work on blind cinema investigates haptic filmmaking technologies for the visually impaired, funded by NEH grants.

His publications reveal trends in intermediality (text/image relations), digital poetics (codework, electronic literature), and transatlantic connections between Spain and Latin America. Current projects examine AI-generated cinema and sensory film practices.

Scientific Awards & Grants

• National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship (2021-22)
• Conrad Humanities Scholar (2019-24)
• Fulbright Research Grant (Spain 2009-10)
• Campus Research Board Awards (multiple)
• Illinois Program for Research in Humanities Prizes
• Hispanex Program Award (Spanish Ministry of Culture 2019)

Ledesma teaches courses on Latin American genre cinema, urban culture, and technology's role in cultural production. He collaborates with the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, Lemann Institute for Brazilian Studies, and European Union Center.